Doubanjiang | Broad Bean Paste(豆瓣酱)

Sichuan cuisine is famous for widely used seasonings and spices. We are going to know the soul of Sichuan cuisine, doubanjiang (spicy broad bean paste). It is the most common and important seasoning for lots of famous Sichuan dishes including mapo tofu and twice-cooked pork.

Doubanjiang (豆瓣酱) literally means bean paste. There are several versions popular in different areas in China. Sichuan Doubanjiang is made from broad bean (fava beans) instead of soybean. There are two sub-versions—one is red oil doubanjiang, which is relatively easy to make and quite popular in housewives’ kitchen; the other one is famous Pixian doubanjiang produced in a small area named as Pixian of Sichuan province. Due to the excellent water sauces, great weather condition and ancestral recipe, Pixian Doubanjiang has its unique flavor and enjoys a high reputation all over world. Pixian doubanjiang usually goes through quite long fermentation time under sunshine. The prices vary based on the fermentation years. But the main market for Pixian doubanjiang is outside Sichuan province. It is quite sad that the tradition is losing due to the city development. Instead of using traditional fermentation method, modernized production lines are widely adopted to improve the outputs. However we are lucky as there are still some brands (Pi’xian Doubanjiang on amazon: Sichuan / Pixian / Pi Xian Broad Bean Paste 16OZ (454g)) to trust. If you meet premiere three-year doubanjiang, do not miss it at whatever price.

Common housewives in Sichuan province love to make their own Doubanjiang at home. The homemade Doubanjiang is produced by a simpler process but yield great tastes too. My family has the tradition to make Doubanjiang each year, making several large jars in turn and exchange with family members. We usually call homemade doubanjiang red oil doubanjiang, because usually a layer of oil is used to separate the doubanjiang from air.

Homemade red oil doubanjiang

Caution: the following is an extremely long post, as I am trying my best to explain everything in details. Making a jar of doubanjing is comforting and enjoying, but also time-consuming and expensive. If you plan to try it at home, please know the most important fungus during the process: Aspergillus oryzae, how it works and the best conditions.

I thought homemade doubanjiang can be quite easy after watching my mother and grandma making them year and year again. But it is true only if you are in China because we are making our homemade doubanjiang based on a essential ingredient—fermented broad beans(霉豆瓣). There is almost no chance to find fermented broad beans outside China, even outside Sichuan. So I went back to my hometown this year and make my own batch from just dried fava beans under their directions. I only start with a small batch and yield around 1.5 kg doubanjiang at last(in the little earth jar shown in above picture).

My mom did not make fermented broad beans previously but my grandma did. I have double checked with her and tried several batches using natural fermentation in my apartment. Guess what? All of the tests failed. After reading lots of articles and papers, I found out the reason is the environment-my apartment. Fungus widely exist in my grandma’s yard as she make fermented foods each year, but my apartment is too clean so there is very little starters around. So I further find out a shortcut and saver way–using kit for the fermentation. Koji kit is the sprouts of Aspergillus oryzae. After loaded with the sprouts, broad beans can be fermented in a short time and meanwhile reduce the chance to be infected by other harmful fungus.

Firstly soak the beans overnight with enough water and then drain.Transfer the beans to a steamer and steam for 20-45 minutes based on the hight of the layer until just well cooked (when you break them in halves in hand, there is no raw part inside, but the beans should not be too fragile to smash easily). You can taste the beans. They should be slightly stiff but well cooked already.

After steaming, transfer the beans out immediately and spread to cool down. In summer, make sure they are cooled down completely. Then mix the starter with 3g flour. The powder in the small spoon is the starter I use, known as koji kit (koji mold spores). You can purchase a Japanese version from amazon.

Spread the starter to the beans and massage with hands to make sure all the beans are loaded with starter.

Then flat them and cover with a wet clean cloth (I soak the cloth in cooled boiled water and please keep the cloth away from the beans). Place on a baking cooling rack so there is air going through underneath and place in shadow place (try to avoid sunshine). Keep the temperature between 30 to 36 degree C and the air humidity around 80% (at least 70%).

If weather condition is great, it should look this after several hours.

Then after another 12 to 16 hours, it looks like this.

Lovely? I watch them for minutes.

After another 12 hours to 16 hours, the white hair turns yellow.

When the hair turns yellow, stop the fermentation via drying under sunshine.

After one day drying under sunshine, it looks like. That’s the fermented broad beans(霉豆瓣).

Wash the beans under running water gently and drain. Then add 30ml Chinese white spirit (白酒), 250ml cooled boiled water and 50g salt.Mix well and fermented for 30 hours to 40 hours (covered).

Then you will get this.

Wash the pepper and air dry for 5-10 hours. And then cut into small pieces. Add around 40g salt and set aside for 1 hour before mixing with the beans.

Scoop the red peppers to the beans and discard the extra liquid at the bottom. Mix in spices, 50ml oil and 2 tablespoons of fermented sticky rice (you can skip this if hard to acquire). And transfer the mixture into the pot.

This is optional! In the first 7 days, place in warm place (under sunshine ) and uncover by day and half covered by night.
Add oil to cover the doubanjiang (3-4 cm higher), cover the lid and place in warm place. Then we pass everything to time. Let it ferments for at least 3 months before enjoying. Use cleaned tool to scoop the sauce out and it can be kept for 2-3 years.

After three months. Homemade red oil doubanjiang has a lighter and brighter color comparing with Pixian doubanjiang.

Firstly soak the beans overnight with enough water and then drain.Then transfer the beans to a steamer and steam the board beans for 20-45 minutes based on the hight of the layer until just well cooked (when you break it in halves in hand, there is no raw part inside, but the beans should not be too fragile to smash easily). You can taste the beans. They should be slightly stiff but well cooked already.

After steaming, transfer the beans out immediately and spread to cool down. In summer, make sure they are cooled down completely. Then mix the starter with 3g flour.

Spread the starter to the beans and message with hands to make sure all the beans are loaded with starter.

Spread the starter to the beans and message with hand to make sure all the beans are loaded with starter.Then flat them and cover with a wet clean cloth (I soak the cloth in cooled boiled water and please keep the cloth away from the beans). Place on a baking cooling rack so there is air going through underneath and place in shadow place (try to avoid sunshine). Keep the temperature between 30 to 36 degree C and the air humidity around 80% (at least 70%). Wait for 24 to 48 hours until the white hair turns yellow.Stop the fermentation via drying under sunshine.

Make Doubanjiang mixture

Wash the beans under running water gently and drain. Then add 30ml white spirit, 250ml cooled boiled water and 50g salt.Mix well and fermented for 30 hours to 40 hours (covered).

Wash the pepper and air dry for 5-10 hours. And then cut into small pieces (I chop ginger along with peppers). Add around 40g salt and set aside for 1 hour before mixing with the beans.

Scoop the red peppers to the beans and discard the liquid on bottom. Mix in spices, 50ml oil and 2 tablespoons of fermented sticky rice. And transfer the mixture into the pot.

This is optional! In the first 7 days, place in warm place (under sunshine ) and uncover by day and half covered by night.

Add oil to cover the doubanjiang (3-4 cm higher), cover the lid and place in warm place. Them we pass everything to time. Let it ferments for at least 3 months before enjoying.

Hi Elaine,
I’ve been looking for that recipe for so long…I’ve been in Sichuan in April 2013 and discovered the joy of that paste on every little single Sichuan dish during my stay. I will definitely try your version.
However, it will be very useful to have the intermediary steps photos…
1) Are you boiling/blanching the broad beans first in order to peel them ?
2) Is the wheat flour “all purpose flour” or “whole wheat flour” ?
3) When you say “mix thouroughly”, does it mean we have to crush/mash the beans ?
4) When we put the jar under the sun, do we have to cover it or not ?
Thanks in advance for your feedback! Without it, I can’t start the recipe!
Cheers from Belgium! David.

I have updated the recipe and with some of your question addressed carefully.

Broad beans should be soaked so that you can peel easily and the flour is all-purpose flour.
We do not need to mash the beans. But you can mash it if you like. The broad beans actually are cut into small pieces.
For the cover with the jar, I recommend using a large gauze. The gauze helps the air circulation and prevents loosing too much water contained.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY ‘HARD LIQUID PLEASE’ AT THE END OF THE LINE ABOUT THE INGREDIENT OF WHITE WINE? IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE…. WHAT IS ‘HARD LIQUID?’ NO IDEA WHAT I’M SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THIS TEXT/INFO? ??? :-/ VERY CONFUSED. THANK YOU.

– Why do we need to do step 2 when step 1 is already heating the beans? It is cooking the beans twice?
– What is the result looking like after step 3? Should the wine evaporate?
– Step 4: should the result here be “mushy”? That’s to say like a “miso paste”?
– The 3 months waiting step is now missing in the recipe. Is it step 5?
– I don’t understand step 6…

Do you have intermediary photos to help? It looks so tasty! Thank you again.

I am really sorry that I cannot provide photos from my own since I have finished the making process and I have a large jar now.

Besides the temperature returns and it is not a good time to make doubanjiang on my side now. But I will search some pictures on the internet to hope you understand what I mean.

For your question
-step1 helps you to peel the skin off easily and step 2 is to make the broad bean cooked and will bring a softer taste of the broad bean body.
-not all of the wine will evaporate. Use your hand to grasp it and it feels like there are some smoothy liquid on the surface.
_after step 4, yes it is a little “mushy”.
_step 6 is to chop the chili peppers but do remember to dry the water on the surface.
_Three months actually is in step 8 after you pour the red oil to the mixture. Half a month is ok and three months are great! So I shorten the time and longer time is hoped. I made my jar around 2 monthes ago and I am still waiting for enjoying it.

Davide, I will send you some pictures via e-mail and hope that can help.

Elaine, I have to thank you so much for the effort you’ve put into helping with this recipe.
The best way to thank you, will be to do the recipe, and to send you some pictures during the intermediate steps and tell you how much I’m enjoying using the paste on all the dishes.
I can start the recipe once the weather is hotter, for the moment it is the middle of winter, then I’ll start in May-June.
A good understanding of the whole recipe was necessary. Thank you again so much.

Do we use fresh broad beans (green) or dry broad beans (brown) for the recipe ?
PS: I’m also looking for a big chinese jar to do this paste 🙂

I love this recipe, I’m trying to figure out how I can make it in holland when we don’t have any sun… Can you tell me what happens to the beans when they are sitting in the sun? Are they fermenting or drying? Or both?

Broad beans finally came into season here a few weeks ago, I blanched some, peeled their skins then submerged them in brine for 10 days, the result was a nice soft & sour bean… I mixed these with the rest of the ingredients in your recipe but a lot less wine since this won’t be evaporating in the sun. I’ve packed the paste into a jar in much the same way as cabbage is packed for sauerkraut and topped with rapeseed oil…

Hi Luc,
Thanks for showing me the picture of your paste. I agree that it looks really promising. Do you skip the sun drying process? If this works fine, then you developed a new and easier way than the traditional one.

I can’t eat wheat and it’s hard to find this paste in the store without it. Could I substitute rice or another flour instead of wheat flour?
Should the broad beans (we call them fava beans in the USA) be fresh or dried? If I wanted to do this with soybeans, fresh or dried? Any other differences?
I just love your recipes and site, beautiful photos!

Hi Ginger,
Thanks for stopping by. If you can eat wheat, then I would love to suggest skipping it. Some people do not use any flour when making their own doubanjiang. Flour is not a must.

And for the fava beans used for this recipe, they should be dried beans.

If you use soy beans then it will come out to be another type of paste. In center part of China, people do use soy beans to make their daily paste. If you want to make the paste with soy beans paste, I can help to bring up another recipe using soy beans.

Since this doubanjiang is considered as the soul of sichuan cuisine, there are many famous sichuan dishes calls for this paste.
There are many recipes on this site calls for doubanjiang for mapo tofu, twice cooked pork and kung pao chicken.

I list some of the recipes on the middle of this page introducing some sichuan dishes need the paste. Just check it and hope that you get some inspirations.

Thank you for this amazing article. I ordered and received the Sichuan / Pixian / Pi Xian Broad Bean Paste 16OZ from Amazon, but I have a question that perhaps you can answer. Do you know how long this will last in the refrigerator? I couldn’t find an expiration date on it, and wanted to know how long I could keep it refrigerated without it going bad. Thank you in advance.

Hi John,
After using, keep the package sealed with a clip. It can be kept at least half a year since it is aseptic.
My homemade doubanjiang can be kept around 2 years. So do not worry about the expiration date since the amount of the package is not that large.

hi, thanks for this recipe! i love to make such pastes from scratch rather than buying, when possible. this is for a very large quantity, correct? 100 oz of dried broadbean? so about 3 kg? does the wine completely cover them when they are cooked? can the recipe be made in a smaller amount?
thanks again.

Sure this can be made in a smaller amount but this is not the right time (in China). Usually this doubanjiang is made in winter. We do not need to cover or soak the cooked beans with wine but make sure each bean is coated with wine. Yes the broadbeans have two layers and both of them needed to be removed. The beans in China is around thumb nail size.I peel the second skin off after soaking.

one more question – broadbeans (fava beans) sometimes seem to have two skins, the thin outer skin and then a second inner skin, so the actual bean inside is quite small. do you just mean the outer skin? (or maybe you use a different type of bean so there is not this problem). do you squeeze the soaked bean to “pop” the bean out?
thanks!

Rice flour cannot be used as a replacement of all-purpose flour. If you are on a gluten free diet, you can just skip flour. The texture might be not that thick but there will be only tiny differences in taste.

Thank you so much for this recipe! I am very excited to make it. I have one question that I hope you can help to clarify. I realise other have asked the same, but I can’t see an answer. Do you recommend using fresh or dried broad beans? I’m guessing fresh, but it would be great if you could clarify.

I really love sichuan cuisine, but in my country you can neither find restaurants who offer it nor can you buy the prefabricated product. Amazon is no alternative either, it makes not much sense to import individually. So I really appreciate that you give the receipe how to prepare sauce or paste, because the basic ingrediens like pepper corn or beans can be found. Each year in january I travel 1000 kilometers to Vienna in Austria where there are many chinese people, many shops and also some sichuan restaurants. Now on my way home I wanted to find out how to make the mapu tofu. Will work with your receipes, thank you for your work.

Hi Elaine,
thank you for putting up this recipe.
There are a few parts I have questions about, which I don’t think have been asked yet.
1. To clarify, when you write hard liquid for the wine, do you just mean alcohol? Do you recommend a particular kind of white wine (dry, sweet?), or is cooking wine ok?
2. In the part when it’s sitting in the sun the first time, and you say to “turn it over” every 24 hours, does that mean to stir it (I hope since it’s only covered by gauze and would dump out, if actually turned over)?
3. After drying out in the sun the final time (after adding the aromatics), do you then store it someplace dark again? Does it get covered with anything more than the gauze, or is it left exposed to the air? In other words, how is it stored?
Final question (sorry I have so many), if the oil is what makes it keep longer, as you’ve stated, do you think oil could be added to the store bought pixian version, for an equally long shelf life? I know it’s a small amount to be saving, but I’m unsure how often I’d use it and I’m just curious if that’s the only difference.
Thanks Again!

Hi Kit,
Sorry for the late recipe. For your questioins
1. hard liquid means High alcohol(alcohol content higher than 65) so cooking wind cannot work for this recipe.
2. Turn over completely not just stirring. You need to turn the bottom to the top.
3.For the storage, store them in air tighter container. If you can see the jar on my picture, it has a perfectly cover.
And for the last one, there is no need to add oil to pixian version. I never tried to do so since Pixian doubanjiang can be saved for quite a long time.

Hi Elaine,
I am excited to discover your website. I love spicy food and I can’t wait to try making this paste. I’m not sure about step 4 though – “Capped fresh pepper and dry the water on surface in the air.” Appreciate if you can help explain, please. Do you mean I’m to add fresh pepper and then leave out to air-dry at that step? Uncovered? For how long?

Hi JC,
The only requirement of this step is to remove the raw water on the surface. So they should be uncovered and the time is really depending(usually we will leave them dry for at least half a day.)

hi! awesome recipe!
i just had one question, after we soak the beans in the wine do we take them out of the wine when we mix the flour etc or do we keep the wine and mix with the wine?
Thanks in advance!
James

Good evening! I have a few questions.
WIth the herbs mix, how much of each do you use, and do you grind them to powder or use them whole?
By alcohol content of 65 do you mean percent or proof?
Have you ever made this with Sake’ instead of wine?
Do you have a recipe for the pixian version?
Have you played around with using dried peppers?

Thank you. I enjoy making Gochujang once every year and using it on everything. This doubanjiang is very interesting way to use favas which grow like mad here.

Hi Shaun,
For Alcohol, I mean proof. I have not try with dried peppers but personally I do not think dried ones can work as they may be quite hard for fermentation.
And I am sorry that I cannot privde Pixian version because that’s too complex. The doubanjiang is stored in large jars and then ferment under sunshine for several months.So it is not practical in home kitchen.

thank you so much for this recipe.
i do have a couple of questions:
one – the wine – grape-based white wine in europe/n.america is not usually much higher than abou 12 percent (24 proof). there are some rice or barley wines, like sochu, that might be about 35 percent (70 proof). could you advise what type of wine you are referring to? is the wine sweet or dry?
two – what type of chili peppers are you using – small bird-type or will any size pepper be all right as long as it is hot?
many thanks in advance.

Hi! This is so cool- you have a recipe for dou ban jiang! I will have to buy some fava beans so I can make it sometime. I’m nuts about making stuff at home, and I have often wondered if people actually make sauces like 豆瓣醬 and 醬油 at home, and how common it is to do. thanks!

Hi Megan,
Usually in Sichuan province, we make our own Doubanjiang. But the version is slightly different from store bought version. My mom makes doubanjiang at home every year and we will give it to other relatives as a gift. However we seldom make soy sauce at home now, as it requires long time sun exposure. But the weather condition is unpredictable and quite hard to control for housewives. So we just buy soy sauce from qualified brands.

Thank you for sharing this recipe. I recently acquired some doubanjiang that was brought back from China just for me! As it turns out it is soybean paste. Can you describe the difference in flavor, is it markedly different? I am considering using your recipe.

Also..I had a question- can you explain why the wine is? I’ve made other fermented things before (for instance, 酸白菜）, and I only used salt (and some water) for that. Does the wine just sanitize/sterilize the beans?

Botulism thrives in anaerobic environments – oil promotes this environment – that’s why there’s a special risk of botulism when you use garlic in oil – because the botulism spores from the garlic can grow in the oil.

I feel comfortable using Pi Xian Dou Ban Jiang because it’s a fermented product, it seems fundamentally different than the homemade version. Whenever my family makes La You, we use it up pretty quickly.

The only reason why store-bought garlic in oil (like Lao Gan Ma) is safer is because they pasteurize the oil at a far higher temperature than home cooks can.

Really, I don’t think this recipe is unsafe, but I really advise against storing it for, what you claim, years. I think a week or so in the fridge is the most safe. Obviously, chances of botulism happening are not too high, but there’s always a risk. Also, you use raw (?) garlic? Cooked garlic would be a little bit safer – in fact, cooking the entire condiment mixture would a bit better in general.

Hi Rayna,
Thanks so much for the information about the botulism. I have no ideas about the specific fact that botulism from garlic can even spread in oil. You are right as we should be very careful concerning about food. I have removed garlic from the ingredients and will continue find a real recipe when I return back to my hometown. Usually we make doubanjiang after autumn when the fresh peppers are harvested, the process only last for a limited period.
We store the homemade Doubanjiang for at least 1 or 2 months before eating, stored in airtight ceramic jars.
Sincerely thanks for the information.

Hi Tal,
Usually we use whole spices in doubanjiang. There is no particular ratio for me. But you can replace them with Chinese five spice powder. But less amount around 2 tablespoons. I hope this helps and you can send me the photo via facebook.

Since the chili bean paste is always cooked thoroughly before use*, I wouldn’t worry too much about botulism — the spores themselves can survive boiling, but the toxin, assuming it’s even present, will be reliably broken down by a ten minute boil at 1000 ft elevation[1][2]. Cook the food containing it thoroughly, don’t taste the raw paste, and clean surfaces and containers just as you would with meat and it’s probably fine.

Given the incredible amount of salt in this stuff, it is also unlikely (but not impossible) for botulinum to grow in it[3]. Botulinum’s main trick is that it’s much more heat tolerant than other bacteria. It still doesn’t like high or low pHs, and it hates salt. I’m a pretty cautious person so I wouldn’t eat this raw just in case, and I’m leaving out the garlic for other reasons (I want to experiment with a simpler paste), nor would I give it it to infants even cooked (same reason as honey), but with the cooking I wouldn’t even worry.

The CDC recommendation is to discard any potentially contaminated food rather than undergoing a botulism boil, but this is presumably due to the fact that nearly all non-infant botulism cases are due to improperly home canned foods[3] (typically eaten without further cooking), or flavored oils (never cooked, as the garlic oil mentioned above).

If you want to be extra cautious, you could experiment with storing it without oil in aerobic conditions (i.e., let it breathe), and only adding the oil once you’re ready to keep it in the refrigerator. That might mess up the recipe though.

That said I’m an expert on neither medicine nor microbiology, so take this all with a grain of salt:-)

I did have a question too — do you know what fermenting agents are desired for making this paste? Given the large amount of salt I’d guess some variety of lactobacillus, but I’ve seen some sites suggest wild yeasts, and this is corroborated by the fact that stuff from outside Chengdu is never quite the same.

Thank you for this interesting recipe. I never realised before that Sichuan had a special Doubanjiang that was not made with soy beans.

Could it be that by “white wine” you are referring to the chinese baijiu which is a liquor with about 40-60% alcohol? That would rather be like vodka than european white wine if I am not mistaken. If you edit your recipe, it should become clearer to your western audience.

Are both sauces eaten the same way? I purchased the Pixan Doubangjiang bean paste. I want to make the red oil sauce. So basically all I do is add rapeseed or veggie oil to bean paste? If so, how much oil to bean paste.

Hi! Thanks for this recipe. I see in the comments you removed garlic due to chances of botulism creation/exposure. What was the quantity that you originally had in the recipe? Is it minced? I’m thinking of altering the recipe a bit and perhaps leave out the oil. I know it won’t be authentic but I’m just trying to experiment.
Thanks!

Can I use angciu as the hard liquor or just regular white wine? and I don’t know what broad beans are in my country I google it up and it shows me stinky bean, but I don’t think it’s that, does it look like peas?

fascinating writeup. I love cooking when it gets “technical” 🙂 I was wondering though about the earthenware jar in the second and third last photographs. The “wide brim” looks exactly like the ones on the jars that are used to ferment Sauerkraut. They usually come with an earthenware lid. For fermenting the “brim” is filled with water and the lid is build in a way that it closes below the waterline. That way gases that build up during fermentation may escape but no air (and possibly spores) from the outside may enter (and spoil) it. Does the jar in the pictures operate after the same principle?

Sorry, this is a complicated question and English is not my native language either, so I just hope you’ll understand it anyways.

Hi Andreas,
You got yourself well understood. Yes, if you use this jar to make fresh pickles, the brim should be filled with water to separate air because the lactobacillus of pickled vegetables are anaerobic. However for doubanjiang fermentation, there is no need to separate the air because Aspergillus oryzae needs a small amount of air.
The earthenware jar can let enough air go through and meanwhile it can keep the warmness. You can use glass jars but the doubanjiang tastes excellent after earthenware jar fermentation.

has anyone of you been successfully able to achieve the fermentation process under – well – temperate conditions?

I do get about one or maybe two weeks a year with day temperatures constantly above 30 degree Celsius (although they drop slightly below at nights). But the humidity will probably be below 70% at those times.

And as Elaine mentioned in one of her replies… controlling weather is hard 🙂

So my question is, has anyone build a special heater for this or some kind of mini greenhouse to keep temperature *and* humidity up?

Andreas,
In the city I am living, the weather humidity is really high (above 58% average, even high in summer), that’s why fermented food is widely produced in summer. But I have a method to help increase the humidity–use wet cloth (and you need to rewet it every two hours) and cover like what I did in the photo. Do not touch the beans because they need breathing.
Another possible way might be fermented in oven and place a large cup (vacuum cup) of hot water at the bottom. The water vapor can help to increase the humidity.
That’s really a tough task and you get a well point here. Controlling weather is the key issue but it is really hard in home cooking environment.

thank you for your Reply. Yes the idea with the oven seems workable, it also came up in a discussion with a coworker of mine regarding this topic. I’ll just have to test if mine is able maintain temperature at this – for an oven – relatively low level. I also found out that Aspergillus oryzae based fermentation is key in producing some other things like Japanese Miso for example so searching for these turned up a wide variety of improvised “devices” (mostly involving card boxes, pierced plastic containers, wet cloth and an electric blanket) to aid growth of the fungus.

I guess I’ll wait for my next holidays and buy a really big bag of beans to be able to do some “testing” before starting this 🙂

I do have one additional question though if you don’t mind.

You list tsaoko as an ingredient. What is that? My google searches suggest it’s something like “black cardamom” but you list cardamom separately.

Now what I have readily available is the small green cardamom as used in Indian cuisine and big black cardamom which is what the Vietnamese sell here for making Phở. So in the list of ingredients which one is which or is tsaoko something completely different?

Assuming with the “white spirit” you typed in your recipe you mean like vodka or a rice liquor(hard liquor)?
“White spirit” is usually used to refer to a common toxic solvent in Europe and not something you would put in your food :p

Hi there!
Your recipe is fascinating. I’ve been trying to look for an organic version of broad bean sauce with no luck. I hope to try making yours some time. I was wondering if you had any interest selling jars of your artisanal broad bean sauce privately. Since the sauce is fermented, it should easily handle being mailed. I would totally buy your sauce from EBay or contribute to your shop on Indiegogo/ Kickstarter.
Thanks,
Katie

Thank you so much for your time. I am wondering if you could discuss how your grandmother ferments her beans and chili naturally outside. I have seen many videos showing they ferment bean and paste separately for year than mix? I live in a climate similar to Szechuan in winter with high humidity and right temp. If you can give me a short discription of how she does it that would be great (not detail like amounts, just process)

Hi,
Natural fermentation is even simpler, cook the beans and then cool down. Then cover with large fresh pumpkin leaves (similar function with the cloth I used here) and then wait for the fermentation in shadow and cool places.
But I strongly suggest you not trying this because I have failed at least 4 times in Sichuan. The humidity and temp is absolutely ok, but there seems to be no starters of the Aspergillus oryzae in the city and other harmful bacteria will take action very soon.

Thank you for the reply! How long does it generally take to ferment? I was thinking the whole winter? I luckily live in the country on a farm and grow broad beans, maybe this will help. I also have fresh pumpkin leaves. Do you know how to ferment the chili peppers separately than the broad beans (I am now harvesting a large amount of peppers)? I notice in the Pixian doubanjang the peppers are thin and dried (I know they age under the sun). This information is so hard to find in America and I sincerely appreciate your recipe and time.

We only fermented beans for doubanjiang in hot summer days over 30 degree C. And it only costs 4-6 days. I am not very sure about winter fermentation.
Fermenting chili peppers is quite easy and we do this a lot along with the year. You can check this post.

I’m a potter and I was hoping you could tell me or show me more about the jar you used please?
Is it terracotta or a harder stoneware, and what shape is it? If you could let me just know the name in pin yin and Chinese I could fine it myself, or if you have any comments about the shape and how it seals that would be amazing 🙂
Thank you1

First of all let me say how much I have taken interest in your blog.
My search for authentic Sichuanese cuisine has me brought to your site many times already.
Great work you put in here!

So as someone else said in the comments, I am also going to make Doubanjiang because
I can’t find an organic version and I have already gathered most ingredients needed. I only have two questions left:

1. What chili do you recommend? I’d have guessed Facing Heaven peppers but I can’t get them here fresh. How hot should the peppers be? I could get fresh Thai chili, is that okay? I guess you use really hot chili, not just a little spicy chili. You want the mouthnumbing feeling, not just texture?

2. Can I directly put everything into the blender or mortar before putting the mixture into the pot? I guess it would ferment faster plus it would make it more like a paste/sauce.

Hi Christian,
Sorry for the late reply. I am occupied by other things in recent days. For your questions.
1. We use fresh red peppers for two main purpose. The first one is to bring the hotness and the second one is to extract the red color. Thai chili can be a quite good choice. But I suggest you add some other less hot ones. Doubanjiang is not very hot actually.
You can use a blender for sure as long as it is cleaned previously.

I’m so excited to try making this. The pixian doubanjiang I buy in the store never has such a nice red color like yours. I’m planning to make this soon, but I’m wondering if when you say that you dry it in the sun, do you mean that the beans must dry outside or can they just be indoors in a very sunny place? It’s quite cold where I am now and the beans would probably freeze!

Hi Elaine, thank you so much for the recipe! I’m in the process of fermenting my beans but they just won’t grow those white hairs, do you have any suggestions on how to create an environment that encourages the mold to sprout those white hairs? I’m currently using a sous vide to create a warm and humid place but maybe I need light for it to start sprouting? Please let me know your thoughts!

Priscilla，
Naturally fermentation cannot be successful in normal environment.There is no starters around.You need to get Koji kit. By the way, Aspergillus oryzae needs air in addition to a warm and humid place.

Thank you for the reply! I actually did buy the koji kit for the fermentation process, it had the distinctive sweet smell of fermenting with aspergillus oryzae but it just wouldn’t grow the spores. I think because the container was covered with aluminum foil , there wasn’t enough air for it to grow or that it actually got too humid. This was super helpful though, hopefully I can come back with good news!

Just want to say thanks for the effort you put in to share your obvious love for the fabulous food of Sichuan. The recipes with such clear directions and photos are much appreciated. I turn to them often. Because of your suggestion I searched for and found 3 year pixian doubanjang, and am now totally addicted. Crazy good in mapo doufu.

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[…] it be that. Finally, I want to add that Elaine over at chinasichuanfood.com also has a recipe for making your own doubanjiang, but it really is so affordable for how many uses you will get out of […]

[…] rather make a mild version of this recipe, look for a regular chili bean paste, like Sichuan douban jiang_kmq.push(["trackClickOnOutboundLink","link_570e6303e1d8d","Article link clicked",{"Title":"douban […]

[…] indeed a traditional food; the process of fermenting broad beans currently employed in Sichuan (see here) seems little changed from the process described in one of China’s oldest cookbooks (from the […]

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